NEVER be rude to those who prepare your food.

[ZenLefty]

A funny thing happened while at my favorite Middle-Eastern eatery.

This place is a hole in the wall, but it does have the best falafels and hummus you can find. A couple of us are waiting in line so they can take our order when walks in the biggest class A asshole I've seen in a long time. He pushes past me (yes, pushes) and pushes past the lady in front of me and starts blurting out his order over the counter. I thought about kicking his ass, but this is the kind of story that just unfolds before your eyes, while you stand there wondering what planet this guy is from.

The girl he's giving his order to is still bagging someone else's take-out, and she has to drop what she's doing and get over to the register. He gets mad when she asks him to repeat the order. He gets mad when the price is 50 cents more than he expected to pay. He starts arguing over the 50 cents. She didn't capitulate, and he got even more upset. After he paid, he told her he'd be waiting on the patio outside and for her to bring his order out to him.

Once he left, all the waitresses started complaining about him in Arabic, sounding a little like rapid fire machine guns. Then the cook came out to find out what the fuss was about. He was carrying a meat cleaver the size of a small Volkswagen. Once he got in on it, he was just livid, and he was swinging that meat cleaver in the air like he was going to make this rude guy a part of the menu! I'll watch for the special on Long Pork Shawarmah.

They took the lady's order and took mine. We were all laughing by then. When I walked out with my food and I walked past him, he asked me "didn't I order before you did?" His tone was less assholish than it was inside, but I still glared at him and didn't tell him a thing.

I could have told him that his order was taking longer because the staff was preparing it special just for him. Probably not far from the truth.

[ewagner]

1. I would have responded:

Yeah, you ordered ahead of me, but I was polite......

[Merlot]

2. That's the golden rule of happy restaurant eating

NEVER be rude to the staff. If you're lucky, your food will only be cold and late.

Not to say everyone who works in foodservice is bent on revenge, but there's always the potential.

[lpbk2713]

3. No extra charge for the sputum or the pubic hairs.

Our way of saying "Have a nice day" to freepers.

[Ernesto]

4. Agreed

While serving my time on USMC mess duty on Okinawa many years ago.....
I was surprised to observe a cook actually dipping his socks in the chow that he was "preparing" for the Staff-NCO's. When lunch time came, we all had a chuckle as the "lifers" passed through the line to enjoy their nice hot lunch. During my 30 days on mess duty, I saw this sort of thing happen several times.

[DinahMoeHum]

5. Ever visit the website "Stained Apron" ???

www.stainedapron.com


Boy, the war stories these folks could tell!! AND, they have the skinny on which celebrities are generous with their tips and which ones are cheapskates.


:evilgrin:

[Submariner]

8. In Sydney recently

I went out to lunch with a bunch from the office and was amazed that there was ZERO tipping in Australia. I watched at other restaurants and no one was tipping that I could see. I did only because I'm conditioned to it, the The Rocks Cafe waitress was cute, and the fish-n-chips were outstanding!

[cruadin]

6. I'm always amazed at people who are rude to anybody that is...

going to handle their food, it's like they're from the Planet Zargon ---totally fucking clueless.

Having worked for more years that I care to remember in the food service industry, I know firsthand that not everybody in that industry is happy with their career. Some of them have a VERY low threshold of shit they will put up with from customers before adding something *special* to their order.

I am always nice to restaurant workers. It's hard, demanding work and if my waitress isn't the perkiest, or the busboy is clumsy---well, hey, life ain't perfect and there's other restaurants in the world. I like my meals to include only what is listed on the menu.

[curse10]

7. Was this at Jerusalem's?

Man, I miss that place. Cheap, awesome food. But a fair amount of assholes frequent the joint.

[ZenLefty]

9. Gee, how'd you guess?

You had to see this to believe it, Curse10. I've never seen the cook come out with a meat cleaver before. We would have been scared if we weren't laughing so hard. :D